Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I, too, love hearing about ninja films.

Have you been following GoodBadflix’s obsession with bad ninja movies? He might have some good recommendations.

Also, I recently heard about New York Ninja, a modern reconstruction of an 89’s ninja film from a warehouse full of unedited footage. RLM cover it in their way here:

No hadn't realized that I may have seen one of those videos I can't recall. So what had happened was... I got back into reading GIJOE comics and have the entire Marvel run and all the side stuff. I had a few of the old Ninja movies I grew up with around and just fell back in. My D&D group is also playing L5R 3rd edition and the guy running it is a bit into historical Ninja stuff. And I fell into a Youtube ninja video spree after that. Needless to say I am playing a Shinobi and love it. That kinda kicked it all off after all of these years.
Where was this when I was a kid!

Turns out I have maybe 8 or 10 more titles to watch.

Revenge of the Ninja, Enter the Ninja, Ninja Warriors, Deadly life of the ninja which you can find on youtube, American Ninja 1-5, and maybe more. I also have a Zatoichi boxed set I got some time in the early 2000's. I will have to find Pray for death as well. I think it's on youtube. That's one I can't recall ever watching, should be fun.
It's going to be a fun few weeks ahead!

For anime I recommend "The dagger of Kamui" 1984/1985
it's an interesting story with some intrigue and well, it's not Ninja Scroll.
One review describes it as a bloody rollercoaster of lies, betrayal and revenge. And that's fair.
Growing up we got these VHS tapes that were bad dubs and this one was called revenge of the ninja warrior if I remember.

Lately, the missus and I have been watching an episode or 2 on a near nightly basis of the new Netflix series, "La Revolution"


Yes, it's a french drama/action show set around the French Revolution time period. But it has a twist, and at first I went in with trepidation what kind of silly "twist" they'd throw at us, but honestly??? It just works for us.

Definitely a tad bit more slow burn than some would prefer in their "monster flick" type shows, but I do think they are setting things up well for the future.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
Lately, the missus and I have been watching an episode or 2 on a near nightly basis of the new Netflix series, "La Revolution"


Yes, it's a french drama/action show set around the French Revolution time period. But it has a twist, and at first I went in with trepidation what kind of silly "twist" they'd throw at us, but honestly??? It just works for us.

Definitely a tad bit more slow burn than some would prefer in their "monster flick" type shows, but I do think they are setting things up well for the future.

I quite liked La Revolution and wish it had been picked up for a second season.

Tremors A Coke Day in Hell

(Autocorrect changed “cold” to “coke” and ai have no idea why. But I’ll allow it.)

Another decent Tremors movie. This one is a bit tighter in pacing and direction than Bloodlines, but still well below the endearing charms of Tremors 1, 2, 3 or 4. There are a couple fun new characters, and Jamie Kennedy seems to be a bit more engaged in this one. The graboid/assblaster kills are kind of weak, though.

Watch it if you didn’t hate Bloodlines.

Blood Red Sky…. A much better film than I was expecting premise (“vampires on a plane” but no Samuel L. Jackson)…except for the end. It seems so many writers really struggle with coming up with a decent ending for a story on tv & in movies.

Seems it had done well enough for Netflix to want a sequel…

https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/exclusive-blood-red-sky-2.html

Well, it is really hard to stick the landing in just about any medium.

I finally got around to watching Black Crab. The first half was interesting but it went down hill after that. Many of the images made me think of Ukraine. Noomi Rapace was pretty good in her role. Again though, a poor ending.

Some folks may not like the vague setting but I think that made it feel a bit more… universal and not quite so setting specific. It does leave a number of unanswered questions. You have to be willing to connect some dots on your own to perhaps create your own interpretation.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niPgQAYdqlM

Black Crab has a great start. Then it drags on for like, 2 hours :/

Jesus wept. I went round to a friend's house last night for a few drinks and the lot of us ended up having to watch Samaritan. What utter drudgery. The Dakka swear filter needs to be removed just for this post because there is no other way to accurately describe it apart from a steaming pile of dog gak. Nothing happens in the entire film, there is zero narrative to be found and the plot twist was about as subtle as a brick.

I quite like Stallone even though some of the movies he's been have been drivel. But this was just utter bollocks. I heartily dislike superhero movies but this was like a condensed version of everything to despise about them. Save yourself the bother and jam a crayon up your nostril if you want to suffer, it won't take as long to feel the effects.

Ninja Warriors -1985

This one is again good and bad but still fairly fun. They did a few things I really found clever as far as filming and choreography the story wasn't bad but had some problems as movies like this usually do.
The cast was tolerable and imbd says Ken Watanabe was in in as he head bad guy ninja,
Kurudo.
Kurudo heads a group of ninja as their master. They are aligned with an ambitious Dr. And steal some top-secret plans for something or other involving mind control? The ninja act asa team in the beginning and it was fun to see them operate that was in their mission employing their unknown number to wonderful effect against 80's renta-cops. Honestly they seemed really skilled and I wondered why they needed a fight scene aside from illustrating their power to the viewer.
The cops in this movie are not very good but I think that is a trope of some kind. crimes like these aren't something they understand and are not prepared to deal with effectively and there's the dynamic where they don't work together very well for office reasons or whatever. The lead detective tries and lucky for him has a friend who is into martial arts and, you guessed it, "spent time in Japan" wink, wink. Enter Steve, martial arts aficionado. wink, wink. He's very stoic as they discover ninjas are involved and tries to steer his friend the detective clear of getting himself murdered. Steve seems to have the strongest situational awareness and almost a sort of 6th sense to his surroundings.
The filming bits I enjoyed the most was just that they filmed in the dark and the Ninjas were in black and genuinely difficult to impossible to see some times. It's a feature not a bug in this case.
It was cool to see the ninjas operate using a decent amount of covert ops and spy techniques and not just sneak around in the dark they were organized and didn't exclude useful "modern" equipment like radios. I fell that as the right call.
There's some other stuff that was good but the icing on the cake was Steve finally getting into Ninja gear and mindset and being a ruthless killing machine. He keeps that side of himself under lock and key but when he's on the job he's as bad as the bad guys. Or if you know the quote, it takes a lot of self control to be this violent." I think that's the one.
Again it's from the 80's so it's got those ... sensibilities about it, not horrible as some. Not too bad really. Some of the casing is really good because they are clearly just people not modern actor types as far a build and looks. Very sagittate western in a way.
Ah, one of my favorite bits in this movie is when they employ metsubushi powders. Very ninja both times. Also I like that this again builds onto the Ninja mythos we've learn from basically every ninja movie.

Shogun's Shadow - 1989
Sonny Chiba was the big name I knew in this one. He doesn't play the hero but quite the imposing villain in the form of the head henchman for lack of a better term.
There's a plot to kill the oldest son of the shogun but who wants him dead.
This movie is a crazy escort mission to castle of the shogun. Arrive on time or more heads will roll. Assassins and soldiers hun the son of the shogun and his bodyguards as they make the attempt to arrive on time. The bodyguards are a mixed bunch and each is cool and skilled in a different way. Lots of character to that group. The henchmen are a very serious threat. The goons try but they're mostly just fodder as we'd expect.
Don't want to spoil it. I really enjoyed it though I found one of the plot points completely obvious and thought that events would go one way but didn't. Which was probably for the best.

 Olthannon wrote:
Jesus wept. I went round to a friend's house last night for a few drinks and the lot of us ended up having to watch Samaritan. What utter drudgery. The Dakka swear filter needs to be removed just for this post because there is no other way to accurately describe it apart from a steaming pile of dog gak. Nothing happens in the entire film, there is zero narrative to be found and the plot twist was about as subtle as a brick.

I quite like Stallone even though some of the movies he's been have been drivel. But this was just utter bollocks. I heartily dislike superhero movies but this was like a condensed version of everything to despise about them. Save yourself the bother and jam a crayon up your nostril if you want to suffer, it won't take as long to feel the effects.

Olthannon… I can’t quite tell if you enjoyed it or not. Can you make your review a bit clearer

Just been to see Wakanda Forever

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Just been to see Wakanda Forever
...

By happy accident I watched Casino this weekend. If you want treat yourself, put on Casino. It's just great to watch, these actors perform to their top (DeNiro doing little but effective things, which is where he's best, Joe Pesci does Pesci things, but also kinda more subdued than you'd think. Maybe it's also because there's Sharon Stone, doing EVERYTHING. She couldn't be 'bigger' than in this film. Really impressive. ), there's a rock solid supporting cast, and the film just looks amazing. The off-text is a really interesting narrative device, but maybe it would have been more interesting in some cases to just have the faces of the actors tell what's told off-camera. But it was 1995, people were looking for new things, and so did even Scorsese I guess? It's great fun though, and a pretty sneaky way of making you care about these characters a bit more.

So yeah, I'm sure you haven't watched it in years (because I hadn't seen it in a LONG time). Watch it again! It's interesting seeing it with a slightly different view now.

Revenge of the Ninja - 1983

I've watched this one from time to time over the years and it's not really my favorite ninja movie featuring Sho Kosugi. This was his big film as far as him being the leading man as it were. It's an action movie with a predictable plot building to the big ninja showdown but it could have been more with the smallest amount of extra creativity but that's Cannon film for you. They have a history of failures or projects they just gave up on and every now and then a good movie. Not that I am being exactly or specifically critical I just saw a video about them some time ago and am going from what I recall.
Our hero is trying to live the simple life of an import export art dealer and opening art galleys with his good friend, an American who lived in Japan for 20 years. nothing suspicious at all, right?
and then there is the mob who become victims of a ninja after busting a deal in which they were to pay x amount for Heroin but reneged on the deal out of greed. And our first ninja shows up to make them pay or die because it's what ever and they'd been warned. oops.
From there after a few creative kills, Cho's son is kidnaped after his gallery is robbed leading to a few over al pointless fights which gain him no information but show off his martial arts skills. Oh ya, Cho is played by you guessed it Sho Kosugi. (They say he was at least 6 foot tall and they might have been right... You could say he was big in Japan... )
from there He's on the hunt to save his son which leads him to the mob building and the big showdown.

After the other recent ninja movies I've seen this one was way too straight forward for anything more than a Saturday afternoon movie. The other had stronger plots and more ninja action. I'd looked down on some of those but after the re-watching I was more impressed with them. I'd remember Revenge of the Ninja differently and thought it would be strong than it was. It's fun the first time but give it a few years so you can enjoy it again.
As far as Ninja stuff in the film I thought was cool there were a few things. Our evil Ninja using hypnosis was one and most of his kills as well. I actually liked him more than our hero which is a little sad I think. Cho also catches a mostly full coffee cup as it falls off a desk in the police prescient and smirks a little. The man has skills. And I'll end with the big fight before the end which had the right set piece I think it was set in a part with a playground and a huge sort of jungle gym with ramps and nets and slides. How could a kid not watch that then go out to the playground and not have crazy ninja fun after that. Of course we did. The question is did the studio plan that or was it just some place they could cheaply afford to film at.

It's worth at least one watch even f you're just going to MST3K it.

I also watched Wakanda Forever....

The story and acting are great, and then the Super-heroics really let it all down. The final "battle" is especially boring and lame.

However, I loved Killmonger's cameo and they treat the death of Boseman really, really, like really well.

Now I have “Big in Japan” stuck in my head. Thanks.


Hocus Pocus 2

It was fine.

It doesn’t feel as alive or as zany as the first movie, but it is just as cringey, although for new reasons. The film focuses way more on plot and lore instead of hijinks, which is good since the hijinks were fairly meh and the plot stuff was better than I feared it would be. The movie feels slick and modern and bland, but the acting is better than the first’s, the pacing is more even, and the characters are a bit more likable. All in all, an easier watch than the first for me and my family.

Except for the opening 10 minutes which contained 90% of the film’s cringe. Also, the accidental Aesop that the witch-burners were right and blossoming teenagers who refuse to be wedded to powerful older men are evil…kind of an odd choice.

 warhead01 wrote:
Revenge of the Ninja - 1983

I've watched this one from time to time over the years and it's not really my favorite ninja movie featuring Sho Kosugi. This was his big film as far as him being the leading man as it were. It's an action movie with a predictable plot building to the big ninja showdown but it could have been more with the smallest amount of extra creativity but that's Cannon film for you. They have a history of failures or projects they just gave up on and every now and then a good movie. Not that I am being exactly or specifically critical I just saw a video about them some time ago and am going from what I recall.
Our hero is trying to live the simple life of an import export art dealer and opening art galleys with his good friend, an American who lived in Japan for 20 years. nothing suspicious at all, right?
and then there is the mob who become victims of a ninja after busting a deal in which they were to pay x amount for Heroin but reneged on the deal out of greed. And our first ninja shows up to make them pay or die because it's what ever and they'd been warned. oops.
From there after a few creative kills, Cho's son is kidnaped after his gallery is robbed leading to a few over al pointless fights which gain him no information but show off his martial arts skills. Oh ya, Cho is played by you guessed it Sho Kosugi. (They say he was at least 6 foot tall and they might have been right... You could say he was big in Japan... )
from there He's on the hunt to save his son which leads him to the mob building and the big showdown.

After the other recent ninja movies I've seen this one was way too straight forward for anything more than a Saturday afternoon movie. The other had stronger plots and more ninja action. I'd looked down on some of those but after the re-watching I was more impressed with them. I'd remember Revenge of the Ninja differently and thought it would be strong than it was. It's fun the first time but give it a few years so you can enjoy it again.
As far as Ninja stuff in the film I thought was cool there were a few things. Our evil Ninja using hypnosis was one and most of his kills as well. I actually liked him more than our hero which is a little sad I think. Cho also catches a mostly full coffee cup as it falls off a desk in the police prescient and smirks a little. The man has skills. And I'll end with the big fight before the end which had the right set piece I think it was set in a part with a playground and a huge sort of jungle gym with ramps and nets and slides. How could a kid not watch that then go out to the playground and not have crazy ninja fun after that. Of course we did. The question is did the studio plan that or was it just some place they could cheaply afford to film at.

It's worth at least one watch even f you're just going to MST3K it.

I really enjoyed that film, and the action scene in the driving car was amazing. Also, the one in which the elderly lady gives the bad guy a rough time. And the finale gives plenty of ninja action, albeit very gimmicky. Once you're done with your ninja overview, I'd be very interested in how you rank the ninja films you watched, so I got a shopping list of films to watch.

 Sigur wrote:

 warhead01 wrote:
Revenge of the Ninja - 1983

Spoiler:

I've watched this one from time to time over the years and it's not really my favorite ninja movie featuring Sho Kosugi. This was his big film as far as him being the leading man as it were. It's an action movie with a predictable plot building to the big ninja showdown but it could have been more with the smallest amount of extra creativity but that's Cannon film for you. They have a history of failures or projects they just gave up on and every now and then a good movie. Not that I am being exactly or specifically critical I just saw a video about them some time ago and am going from what I recall.
Our hero is trying to live the simple life of an import export art dealer and opening art galleys with his good friend, an American who lived in Japan for 20 years. nothing suspicious at all, right?
and then there is the mob who become victims of a ninja after busting a deal in which they were to pay x amount for Heroin but reneged on the deal out of greed. And our first ninja shows up to make them pay or die because it's what ever and they'd been warned. oops.
From there after a few creative kills, Cho's son is kidnaped after his gallery is robbed leading to a few over al pointless fights which gain him no information but show off his martial arts skills. Oh ya, Cho is played by you guessed it Sho Kosugi. (They say he was at least 6 foot tall and they might have been right... You could say he was big in Japan... )
from there He's on the hunt to save his son which leads him to the mob building and the big showdown.

After the other recent ninja movies I've seen this one was way too straight forward for anything more than a Saturday afternoon movie. The other had stronger plots and more ninja action. I'd looked down on some of those but after the re-watching I was more impressed with them. I'd remember Revenge of the Ninja differently and thought it would be strong than it was. It's fun the first time but give it a few years so you can enjoy it again.
As far as Ninja stuff in the film I thought was cool there were a few things. Our evil Ninja using hypnosis was one and most of his kills as well. I actually liked him more than our hero which is a little sad I think. Cho also catches a mostly full coffee cup as it falls off a desk in the police prescient and smirks a little. The man has skills. And I'll end with the big fight before the end which had the right set piece I think it was set in a part with a playground and a huge sort of jungle gym with ramps and nets and slides. How could a kid not watch that then go out to the playground and not have crazy ninja fun after that. Of course we did. The question is did the studio plan that or was it just some place they could cheaply afford to film at.

It's worth at least one watch even f you're just going to MST3K it.

I really enjoyed that film, and the action scene in the driving car was amazing. Also, the one in which the elderly lady gives the bad guy a rough time. And the finale gives plenty of ninja action, albeit very gimmicky. Once you're done with your ninja overview, I'd be very interested in how you rank the ninja films you watched, so I got a shopping list of films to watch.

Oh ya, can't forget her I just didn't want to spoil anything. So, spoilers, she one tough cookie! I may have undersold the action, it's there in abundance.
I had not considered a ranking I will have to give that some thought. These movies are a good time for sure and I hope you can find them!

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Now I have “Big in Japan” stuck in my head. Thanks.

Winning!

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Now I have “Big in Japan” stuck in my head. Thanks.


Hocus Pocus 2

It was fine.

It doesn’t feel as alive or as zany as the first movie, but it is just as cringey, although for new reasons. The film focuses way more on plot and lore instead of hijinks, which is good since the hijinks were fairly meh and the plot stuff was better than I feared it would be. The movie feels slick and modern and bland, but the acting is better than the first’s, the pacing is more even, and the characters are a bit more likable. All in all, an easier watch than the first for me and my family.

Except for the opening 10 minutes which contained 90% of the film’s cringe. Also, the accidental Aesop that the witch-burners were right and blossoming teenagers who refuse to be wedded to powerful older men are evil…kind of an odd choice.

I think the biggest problem with the beginning was that the film tried to set them (well, her) up as innocent and awful simultaneously, and that doesn't really work. They also just didn't need a backstory about how they got their powers, let alone the indifferent convenience that the writers decided to go with.

The modern day stuff was a lot less painful than the original film, though they still never settled on whether or not the witches were modern culture savvy or not (and just bounced between both as the jokes demanded); and the modern kids were fine, but honestly needed a real conflict between them rather than... that. I would've split the modern group over the <plot device> (one knowing about it) and shown that, rather than the bad backstory.

As a weird coincidence, Big in Japan was currently playing as I wrote this.

 Flinty wrote:


Olthannon… I can’t quite tell if you enjoyed it or not. Can you make your review a bit clearer

Honestly, it was the fact that I could feel the sands of time slipping through my fingers as I wasted my life watching it that I dlsliked the most

I suppose the one positive is that at least with a group of mates you can shred the thing to pieces.

I got to watch Murder by Death again. Always a delight, always makes me laugh. What a cast.

Dr Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam

This is a Jim Varney movie we watched because we heard it had an Ernest cameo. My son was bored for 80% of the movie, my wife was too creeped out to watch, and I spent most of my time watching it for the production value and 80’s-ness of it.

This was a weird, weird movie. It’s essentially a sketch show, where JimmVarney transforms into different characters and enacts silly plots to try to kill his archnemesis, Lance Sterling. The film opens with financial Armageddon eerily similar to the end of Fight Club, with Varney’s Dr Otto rocking the hell out of some 80’s low budget Sci Fi costumes and sets. All the Dr Otto scenes are shot like music videos, which goes well with his catchy theme. Those are the highlight of the film in my opinion. Most of the other sketches are chuckle worthy at best.

I only recommend the film if you love low budget Sci Fi or oddball movies. If the Dr Otto scenes are on YouTube, watch them.

Edit: it appears there are scenes on YouTube!

Voss wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Now I have “Big in Japan” stuck in my head. Thanks.


Hocus Pocus 2

It was fine.

It doesn’t feel as alive or as zany as the first movie, but it is just as cringey, although for new reasons. The film focuses way more on plot and lore instead of hijinks, which is good since the hijinks were fairly meh and the plot stuff was better than I feared it would be. The movie feels slick and modern and bland, but the acting is better than the first’s, the pacing is more even, and the characters are a bit more likable. All in all, an easier watch than the first for me and my family.

Except for the opening 10 minutes which contained 90% of the film’s cringe. Also, the accidental Aesop that the witch-burners were right and blossoming teenagers who refuse to be wedded to powerful older men are evil…kind of an odd choice.

I think the biggest problem with the beginning was that the film tried to set them (well, her) up as innocent and awful simultaneously, and that doesn't really work. They also just didn't need a backstory about how they got their powers, let alone the indifferent convenience that the writers decided to go with.

The modern day stuff was a lot less painful than the original film, though they still never settled on whether or not the witches were modern culture savvy or not (and just bounced between both as the jokes demanded); and the modern kids were fine, but honestly needed a real conflict between them rather than... that. I would've split the modern group over the <plot device> (one knowing about it) and shown that, rather than the bad backstory.

As a weird coincidence, Big in Japan was currently playing as I wrote this.

I completely agree the opening set up doesn’t work. I understand why they had to include a set up for Midler caring more for her family than for evil in order for the ending to work, but it didn’t really do that and just started the whole thing off badly. The “and then a witch showed up and gave her everything” feels like someone read all the criticisms of Solo’s prequelitis and thought, “I can do all that and worse in ten minutes”.

I didn’t mind the kids’ backstory. It was blander than most artificial conflicts between protagonists in this sort of film, but less annoying and frustrating than most “divided by a miscommunication” plot lines. I wouldn’t trust the writers to set up anything deeper, either. At least the good witches’ powers were a result of years of ‘practice’, friendship and study and not a total plot convenience.

21 Jump Street

A much better and more entertaining film than I was expecting to be honest.

I wouldn’t say it’s a classic myself, but it’s one I’d happily watch again in time.

Bonus points for Johnny Depp getting shot in the neck. Overall it’s…curiously restrained. It’s a silly and daft film yes, as befits a comedy. But it stops just short of outright farce and gross out. Which makes it a slightly odd fish. On one hand I think it could’ve done with being a bit sillier, but given the action scenes are played fairly straight faced, I don’t think sillier humour would’ve worked.

Overall, I think I appreciate that restraint, and the oddness it creates.

Fury

(Brad Pitt WWII tank movie)

Well heck.

Now I need to buy like, 10 of those Rogal Dorn tanks.

My Neighbor Totoro

Utterly charming. A classic.

Jingle All The Way

Haven’t seen this in ages, but it’s on Disney+ so what the hey.

This really is a solid film. Arguably better than it ever deserved to be, and is a nicely balanced for family watching. Not that I have a family myself as such.

Also serves to show Jake Lloyd was a decent actor after all!

Fury finished good. Worth seeing.

Zombieland 2

Cute, but if I see another post-apoc movie where everyone still has access to a full array of grooming products and hair dye...

What, like all that gaks going to go off just sat there, and there isn't enough stock in the shops to support a massively reduced population for years?

I mean, ok, sometimes there might not be time or safety, but access to the products isn't all that surprising.

I suppose maybe Madison looted a 10 year supply of bleach for her hair, but it just irks me.

It needs a little more context for me, when Maggie et al were essentially homeless in the wilds of Georgia in the early days of TWD and still had time to pluck, shave, cut and paint then it's more egregious than when they're settled in a location, as they are in Zombieland for chunks of both films IIRC.

But I think it's reasonable that if scavenging medical supplies is still feasible then cosmetics etc are probably even easier.